Vettel closes in on title

Sebastian Vettel moved a step closer to becoming Formula One's youngest back-to-back and double world champion after clinching pole position for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old German was in a class of his own in claiming the top spot for the 11th time from 14 races this year, to move within three of equalling Nigel Mansell's 1992 record for number of poles in a season.

Vettel's hot lap of one minute 44.381secs under the bright lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit was a third of a second quicker than Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.

The pole also extends the team's run to 15 in a row, with Red Bull closing in on Williams' astonishing run of 24.

Webber knocked Lewis Hamilton off the front row as the Briton was poised for his fifth P2 start in succession.

However, a puncture sustained in Q2 limited the McLaren star to only one run in the top-10 shoot-out in order to save a set of the faster supersoft tyres.

Hamilton will instead line up fourth behind team-mate Jenson Button, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso fifth, followed by team-mate Felipe Massa and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg in seventh.

Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and the Force India duo of Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta opted not to set a time in Q3 and instead save tyres for what is likely to be a three-stop race.

Describing his satisfaction of driving around the Singapore circuit, Vettel said: "It's an exceptional track. Either you like it or hate it, with a lot of thinking going on, and if you operate on the limit then it's difficult to get it right every single corner.

"It's so easy to lose time, not just a couple of hundredths, but a couple of tenths. It's a great challenge."